A 50-year-old Arizona man was arrested Saturday after allegedly emailing a rabbi with an unhinged threat to kill him and “every other JEW I can find.”
Court records state that Jeffrey Mindock sent the message Friday to the leader of a Scottsdale synagogue because he believed a conspiracy theory that Jewish people control the court system and that the rabbi could therefore help him with a separate legal issue.
Mindock appeared to be influenced by the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, which is believed to be fueling a rise in antisemitic incidents.
He allegedly instructed the rabbi to “try to convince” a Utah state judge — whom he dubbed the rabbi’s “servant” — to “drop the charges” against him.
“If you do not use your influence to right this wrong I will execute you and every other JEW I can find tonight at midnight of your Sabbath,” read the email, according to authorities.
Mindock had allegedly emailed threats to a Utah judge in August, accusing the judge of being a “race traitor” who would be hanged. He also threatened others before that, once claiming to have enough guns and ammunition to kill 10 SWAT teams, according to an FBI affidavit.
Mindock is facing one count of making interstate threats.
His email, which featured the subject line “HITLER WAS RIGHT RABBI,” according to law enforcement, read:
As I have watched the atrocities unfolding in Palestine, I have come to the realization that YOU people are to blame for everything evil in this world. Zionist Jews control everything from the courts to the banks to the media. We both know that you are in control.
“Civic engagement and civil dialogue help bind us together as a Nation,” U.S. Attorney Gary Restaino said in a statement. “We have no tolerance for those who send threatening communications to Jewish faith leaders or to any other people in America. We will continue to exercise our prosecutorial discretion and deploy our resources to charge threats cases here in Arizona.”